Alligator bites worker who was diving for golf balls in Weston

Stephen Martinez said he didn't see the alligator that bit his left hand Wednesday at Bonaventure Country Club, but he definitely felt it.

The gator "just snapped," Martinez said before leaving the Cleveland Clinic emergency room. "The gator was just being a gator, and I was in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Martinez, 51, of Pompano Beach, suffered minor injuries and said there is no nerve damage to his hand.

"I still have my whole hand…but it sure hurts," he said. "It feels like it was cut off."

Martinez, a contract worker, was diving for golf balls in a pond near the second hole when the 9-foot alligator clamped down on his hand, then let go.

Martinez swam to the edge of the pond, climbed into a golf cart and drove to the club's pro shop, where a staff member called 911.

"We were down cleaning carts and the guy whistled at us and said he got bit by a gator — the whole time keeping his hand elevated," club employee Trent Hampel said. "He was calm about it the whole time."

Martinez then waited for Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue in the parking lot before being taken to Cleveland Clinic, said Mike Jachles, spokesman for Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue.

"Lucky for this man, it appears the alligator wasn't too hungry," Jachles said.

Around 5 p.m., about 20 people watched as a trapper reeled in the thrashing gator — with an occasional "whoa" from an onlooker breaking the silence. With help from Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials, the trapper loaded the gator into the bed of a pickup truck and carted it off.

The trapper, who would not provide his name, said the gator would be relocated and not released back into the wild.

Randy Weber, general manager at the club, said divers routinely come to the club to retrieve golf balls. He said Martinez, who works for Birdie Golf Ball Co. in Margate, was in a pond that is 60 to 70 feet deep with poor visibility.

"He was very lucky. It could've grabbed his head," Weber said. His hand "was all mangled. It looked like it hurt a lot."

With water on 15 of the club's 18 holes, gator sightings are not uncommon, Weber said.

"We see gators. They come and go," he said. "Just like any body of water, you have to assume there's a gator."

Martinez said he's scared to get back into the water, but he knows from experience that fear will fade. He had been bitten by a gator five years ago — also on his left hand — at a golf course in Boynton Beach.

"It's not just my job," he said, adding that he is not ready to quit. "It's an adventure."